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Weather Alive is the eighth studio album by English singer-songwriter Beth Orton. The album was released on 23 September 2022 by Partisan Records.

Weather Alive
Studio album by Beth Orton
Released	23 September 2022
Length	45:43
Label	Partisan
Producer	Beth Orton
Beth Orton chronology
Kidsticks (2016) Weather Alive (2022)

Background

Orton began work on Weather Alive after buying a used upright piano from a dealer at Camden Market in London for ₤300 ($350 USD) and creating songs by playing notes around the instrument. In an interview with The New York Times, Orton said of that creation process: "No matter where you touch [the piano], it just has these resonances [...] Little ghosts of other chords just keep ringing out and you're like, "Oh, that speaks of another melody, and that speaks of another feeling."[1] In a press release following the album's announcement on 31 May 2022, Orton described the album as "a sensory exploration that allowed for a connection to a consciousness that I was searching for."[2]

Singles

The album's title track was released as the first single on 31 May 2022. Reviewing for Pitchfork, Sam Sodomsky described Orton's vocal performance as "broken and determined, cresting in a chorus that flows with the emotional cadence of an old soul song."[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
musicOMH	[6]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[7]
PopMatters	8/10[8]
The Telegraph	[9]

Upon release, Weather Alive received acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream publications, the album has a score of 85, based on twelve reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[4]

In the review for PopMatters, Evan Sawdey wrote that the album "unabashedly feels like the record [Orton] needed to make now, and we all feel more Alive because of it."[8] Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork called it "the best work" of Orton's career, describing it as "soothing, immersive, and self-produced, it conjures a dreamlike atmosphere with songs that spiral out into the ether".[7] Reviewing the album for The Telegraph, Neil McCrommik stated that, "Orton digs so deeply into her own personal spaces and memories that what she finds there is unique. Middle-aged discontent has rarely sounded so lovely."[9]

Describing the album in a review for AllMusic, Marcy Donelson declared that, "Weather Alive nestles into a comparatively hushed, atmospheric blend of acoustic and electronic timbres that's meticulous and nebulous at once." The reception for the album was more muted in a review for MusicOMH, where writer Ben Devlin claimed that some of the "arrangements can feel a little staid" but that overall they don't "keep Weather Alive from being an engrossing listen especially as Orton dominates the proceedings so expertly."[6]

Track listing

Charts

Chart performance for Weather Alive

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Australian Physical Albums (ARIA)[10]	91
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11]	81
Scottish Albums (OCC)[12]	8
UK Albums (OCC)[13]	27
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[14]	4

References

На других языках

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- [en] Weather Alive

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[ru] Weather Alive

Weather Alive — восьмой студийный альбом английской певицы, гитаристки и автора-исполнителя Бет Ортон, вышедший 23 сентября февраля 2022 года на независимом лейбле Partisan Records  (англ.) (рус.. Продюсером и автором песен выступила сама певица.

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